Distributor plate for a gas-liquid mixture, provided with distribution elements having low sensitivity to a lack of horizontality

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9486752-B2
Application number	US-201214356252-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 9, 2012
Priority date	Nov 3, 2011
Publication date	Nov 8, 2016
Grant date	Nov 8, 2016

Abstract

The present invention describes a distributor plate provided with distribution elements having low sensitivity to a lack of horizontality, a distribution element being constituted by two substantially co-axial cylinders termed the inner cylinder ( 1 ) and the outer cylinder, the lower horizontal surface ( 5 ) separating the two cylinders being closed. The distributor plate is suitable for co-current downflows of gas and liquid, more particularly in “trickle bed” mode. The invention also concerns the application of the distributor plate to processes for the hydrotreatment or hydrogenation of various oil cuts.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A distributor plate for a gas-liquid flow in downflow co-current mode positioned at various levels of a reactor which may comprise a plurality of catalytic beds, in order to ensure homogeneous distribution of the resulting gas-liquid mixture over a catalytic bed located downstream of said plate,
said plate being provided with distribution elements distributed regularly over the surface of the plate in a square or triangular pattern, a distribution element containing two substantially coaxial cylinders termed the inner cylinder ( 1 ) with a diameter (d 1 ) and height (h 1 ), and the outer cylinder ( 2 ) with a diameter (d 2 ) and height (h 2 ), raised by a height (h 3 ) with respect to the plane of the plate, a lower horizontal surface ( 5 ) separating the two cylinders being closed and located at a height (h 3 ) above the base of the distributor plate which is in the range of 10 to 100 mm, and the lateral wall of the outer cylinder ( 2 ) being provided with at least one substantially vertical slot ( 4 ) for admitting gas and liquid into an annular zone ( 3 ), the gas-liquid mixture being capable of entraining in the annular zone ( 3 ) as an upflowing stream, then passing into the inner cylinder ( 1 ) via an upper opening ( 6 ) thereof and dropping inside the inner cylinder ( 1 ), then evacuated via an opening ( 7 ) located at the lower end of the inner cylinder ( 1 ).

2. The distributor plate for a gas-liquid flow in downflow co-current mode according to claim 1 , in which the number of vertical slots ( 4 ) with height (h 4 ) is 1 to 3.

3. The distributor plate for a gas-liquid flow in downflow co-current mode according to claim 1 , in which the pitch between the distribution elements is in a square or triangular pattern with a dimension of 100 to 200 mm.

4. The distributor plate for a gas-liquid flow in downflow co-current mode according to claim 1 , in which the total height of the distribution elements is in the range of 200 to 400 mm.

5. The distributor plate for a gas-liquid flow in downflow co-current mode according to claim 1 , in which
(h 2 ) is in the range of 100 to 500 mm,
(d 2 ) is in the range of 15 to 300 mm,
(h 1 ) is in the range of 100 to 500 mm,
(d 1 ) is in the range of 10 to 100 mm,
(h 4 ) is in the range of 10 to 500 mm,
(ef) is in the range of 1 to 5 mm,
(h 3 ) is in the range of 10 to 100 mm,
wherein
(h 2 ) is the height of outer cylinder,
(d 2 ) is the diameter of outer cylinder,
(h 1 ) is the height of inner cylinder,
(d 1 ) is the diameter of inner cylinder,
(h 4 ) is the height of the admission slot for the gas-liquid mixture,
(ef) is the width of the admission slot for the gas-liquid mixture, and
(h 3 ) is the height of the outer cylinder with respect to the base plane of the plate.

6. The distributor plate for a gas-liquid flow in downflow co-current mode according to claim 1 , in which the slots for passage of gas and liquid have a triangular shape, the point of the triangle being directed upwardly or downwardly.

7. The distributor plate for a gas-liquid flow in downflow co-current mode according to claim 1 , in which the two cylinders, inner and outer, are not exactly coaxial but are off-centre by a distance between their two axes in the range of greater than 0 to (d 2 −d 1 )/4.

8. The distributor plate for a gas-liquid flow in downflow co-current mode according to claim 1 , in which the distributor plate is completed by a set of conical deflectors forming an integral part of said plate, each deflector being placed beneath a distribution element, the enlarged portion of the cone being directed downwardly.

9. The distributor plate for a gas-liquid flow in downflow co-current mode according to claim 1 , in which the distributor plate is completed by a set of screens forming an integral part of said plate and placed downstream of the plate by a distance in the range of 20 to 300 mm from said plate, the various screen elements also being disposed in different planes.

10. A process for the hydrotreatment, hydrogenation or oxidation of oil cuts containing 4 to 20 carbon atoms, comprising passing a gas or liquid in said process by a distributor plate according to claim 1 .

11. A process comprising a co-current downflow of gas and liquid in a trickle bed mode with a surface velocity of liquid in the range of 0.1 to 1.5 cm/s, comprising passing said gas and liquid by a distributor plate according to claim 1 .

12. The distributor plate for a gas-liquid flow in downflow co-current mode according to claim 1 , wherein (h 3 ) is in the range of 20 to 60 mm.

13. The distributor plate for a gas-liquid flow in downflow co-current mode according to claim 1 , in which the number of vertical slots ( 4 ) with height (h 4 ) is 1 to 2.

14. The distributor plate for a gas-liquid flow in downflow co-current mode according to claim 5 , in which
(h 2 ) is in the range of 200 to 400 mm,
(d 2 ) is in the range of 50 to 200 mm,
(h 1 ) is in the range of 200 to 400 mm,
(d 1 ) is in the range of 25 to 75 mm,
(h 4 ) is in the range of 100 to 300 mm,
(ef) is in the range of 1 to 3 mm, and
(h 3 ) is in the range of 20 to 60 mm.

15. The distributor plate for a gas-liquid flow in downflow co-current mode according to claim 1 , in which the two cylinders, inner and outer, are coaxial.

16. The distributor plate for a gas-liquid flow in downflow co-current mode according to claim 1 , in which the distributor plate is completed by a set of screens forming an integral part of said plate and placed downstream of the plate by a distance in the range of 50 to 150 mm from said plate, the various screen elements also being disposed in different planes.

17. A process for the hydrotreatment, hydrogenation or oxidation of oil cuts containing 8 to 20 carbon atoms, comprising passing a gas or liquid in said process by a distributor plate according to claim 1 .

18. The distributor plate for a gas-liquid flow in downflow co-current mode according to claim 5 , in which one or more of the following apply
(h 2 ) is in the range of 200 to 400 mm,
(d 2 ) is in the range of 50 to 200 mm,
(h 1 ) is in the range of 200 to 400 mm,
(d 1 ) is in the range of 25 to 75 mm,
(h 4 ) is in the range of 100 to 300 mm,
(ef) is in the range of 1 to 3 mm, and
(h 3 ) is in the range of 20 to 60 mm.

19. A distributor plate for a gas-liquid flow in downflow co-current mode positioned at various levels of a reactor which may comprise a plurality of catalytic beds, in order to ensure homogeneous distribution of the resulting gas-liquid mixture over a catalytic bed located downstream of said plate,
said plate being provided with identical distribution elements distributed regularly over the surface of the plate in a square or triangular pattern, a distribution element containing two substantially coaxial cylinders termed the inner cylinder ( 1 ) with a diameter (d 1 ) and height (h 1 ), and the outer cylinder ( 2 ) with a diameter (d 2 ) and height (h 2 ), raised by a height (h 3 ) with respect to the plane of the plate, a lower horizontal surface ( 5 ) separating the two cylinders being closed and located at a height (h 3 ) above the base of the distributor plate which is in the range of 10 to 100 mm, and the lateral wall of the outer cylinder ( 2 ) being provided with one or more identical substantially vertical slots ( 4 ) for admitting gas and liquid into an annular zone ( 3 ), the gas-liquid mixture being capable of entraining in the annular zone ( 3 ) as an upflowing stream, then passing into the inner cylinder ( 1

Assignees

• Ifp Energies Now

Inventors

• Haroun Yacine
• Bazer-Bachi Frederic
• Augier Frederic
• Rogeon Charly
• Boyer Christophe

Classifications

• B01D3/20 Primary

  Bubble caps; Risers for vapour; Discharge pipes for liquid · CPC title

• C07B33/00

  Oxidation in general · CPC title

• B01J8/0453

  the beds being superimposed one above the other · CPC title

• B01J8/0492

  Feeding reactive fluids (for solid material, see B01J8/0015) · CPC title

• B01F3/04

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic